Bush to Announce Missions to Mars, Moon

Well, here you have it. Always said the president was “lun-y”. HA HA!!! GET IT?! LUN-Y? LUN-A? HA HA HA!!! AHA! er. . .

President Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and establish a permanent human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.

Bush won’t propose sending Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now, one official said.

In addition to proposing the first trip to the moon since December 1972, the president wants to build a permanent space station there.

Now something in me says this is really cool, and another part says this is ass backwards.

Thinking historically, I suppose an argument could be made that Columbus sailed to the New World with the financial backing of the Spanish government, and that Portugal did the same. . . but in the end it was financial investment and companies that conquered and settled the New World. Private investment, not government involvement.

Plus there’s the fact that we are spending bundles of money right now keeping the space station afloat. How are we going to afford a permanent station on the Moon and a manned trip to Mars?

I dunno. . . maybe the trick is to find mineral deposits, oil, or precious metals on either celestial body to get entrepreneurs up there. Maybe we don’t want that at all. Mixed feelings on this one. . .